Survey Links Teen Sports, Healthy Behavior

There may be something to the stereotype of the
clean-cut high school jock.

A survey of more than 14,000 teen-agers found that those who
participated in team sports were less likely to use drugs, smoke,
have sex, carry weapons or have unhealthy eating habits.

“The generally positive relationships between sports
participation and health behaviors suggest that physicians should
actively encourage young people to take advantage of the
opportunity to join sports teams,” the South Carolina researchers
wrote in the September issue of the Archives of Pediatrics &
Adolescent Medicine, published by the American Medical Association.

While other studies have had similar findings, some have linked
specific sports with unhealthy behavior, such as drinking. Athletes
in the current study were just as likely to use alcohol as
nonparticipants.

The researchers attributed their findings in part to team rules
that frown on unhealthy behavior such as smoking.

The authors, led by Russell R. Pate, a professor of exercise
science at the University of South Carolina School of Public Health
in Columbia, analyzed results from a 1997 survey of high school
boys and girls by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC funded the study.

Robert DuRant, vice chairman of pediatrics at Wake Forest
University School of Medicine, said the findings do not show
whether participation in sports “causes one to engage in more
healthy behaviors.”

Teens who participate in sports have less free time and probably
have parents who promote healthy behavior, said DuRant, who was not
involved in the research.